Monday, December 6, 2010

New England and the Swallowing Up of Spells

I am tempted to believe it. There is a pall over New England, a dark cloud. Between the typical New England stoicism, the economic depression, the long winters with their long gray skies, the absence of opportunities for the entrepreneurial spirit, the tedium and routine of life in the large rural areas, the mass exodus of youth away from the area, rampant drug and alcohol use compounded by growing poverty and government-assisted living, and the spiritual dryness, what hangs over the area is a perfect storm of blah.

My friend Leslie sees Vermont in Isaiah 25:7. There is a covering "cast" over the Green Mountain State, like a spell of drudgery and dryness holding it captive, a veil obscuring the beatific vision. Where there is not outright brokenness of addiction or abuse, there just seems to be a ho-hum-ness, a resignation to unbeautiful monotony.

It will take an act of God for the evangelical church, which is by and large just wallpaper in this culture, to become a hyper-dimensional witness to the stirring, resurrecting power of the gospel of Jesus. It is always winter here, never Christmas. But we hear Aslan is on the move.

Pray for gospel wakefulness in America's greatest missional frontier. God willing, we could see another awakening. Join us in praying Isaiah 25:6-7 for New England:

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.